Fate of Conservation Mandates
Many states allow private opt-outs, but Florida bucks the trend.
Should regulators allow customers opt-out, on the theory they know best? Or should all customers be made to participate?
CCR
Splitting the Difference on Coal Ash
Industry wins exemption for ‘beneficial use’ but faces tighter rules on impoundments and landfills.
The EPA only has limited authority to implement and enforce a Subtitle D nonhazardous waste rule, like the coal combustion residuals rule. As a result, EPA had to promulgate the standards as “minimum federal criteria” that states are encouraged to adopt as part of their Subtitle D programs (but EPA cannot actually require states to adopt or implement these requirements.) Nonetheless, the new minimum criteria do indeed serve as legal standards that an owner or operator of a coal combustion residuals disposal unit must meet.
Keeping a Lid on Coal Ash
EPA’s rule said to favor repurposing and recycling – over landfills or disposal ponds.
The EPA’s new final rule marks a turning point in the handling of coal fly ash. EPA has tried to balance the needs of utilities with existing coal ash deposits and the needs of communities that are worried that such ponds will leak into waterways, or even worse, burst open and wreak havoc. In the process, it’s pleased few.
From Coal to Gas
Regulatory and environmental challenges for power plant conversions under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Converting a power plant from coal to natural gas triggers a host of environmental challenges and regulatory issues. Operators could be trading one set of regulatory obligations, liabilities, and costs for another, equally problematic, set of liabilities and costs.
EPA's Winding Road
How we got here and what to expect.
New air quality regulations, including the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, have prompted substantial investments in emission control upgrades. But a series of additional standards—for mercury, toxins, cooling water and ash residue—are driving delays and shutdowns in the coal-fired power fleet. Investment decisions depend on a clear understanding of where EPA is headed, and how the new regulations will affect generators’ costs—and market prices.
Risk Management Starts at the Top
How to sort out strategies and weather the storm.
Unless embraced as an integral part of the business strategy, risk management is nothing more than a bureaucratic exercise that lulls the management and directors into a false sense of security.
Breaking the Gridlock
A proposal to remove the bottlenecks on grid investment.
The lack of transmission investment transcends the usual culprits, pointing to a serious flaw in market structure.
Risk Appetites: How Hungry Are Utility Investors?
An effective risk-management strategy depends on knowing your shareholder’s idea of value.
How do shareholder relations link to risk-management policy? The answer: Utilities have to communicate to shareholders a particular set of operating strategies that will attain certain financial results. Risky activities both enhance and threaten those financial results. Therefore, policies must define how risky strategies are formulated, approved, controlled, and measured.
Capital Reserve Margins: Hardly Adequate
A pseudonymous executive tells why the CCRO's recommendations don't pass muster.
A pseudonymous executive tells why the CCRO's recommendations don't pass muster.
The latest splash from the Committee of Chief Risk Officers1 (CCRO)-a new white paper regarding capital adequacy for energy companies2-makes barely a ripple. While an improvement over the CCRO's previous efforts,3 the capital adequacy recommendations do not provide adequate standards that can be implemented consistently by energy companies.
Frontlines
The Northeast Blackout goes political.
Frontlines
The Northeast Blackout goes political.
Nearly a year ago, cover story announced the rise of the chief risk officer (CRO). "Utility senior management is becoming positively enamored with the office of the CRO," we said. "Fully 40 percent of America's CROs work for utilities and energy companies."